SPARKWORKS BLOG

MAKE BETTER VIDEO

Hosting your video used to be really difficult. Due to the bandwidth constraints of the day (56k anyone?), you needed to encode your video to a bunch of different sizes, all with heavy compression, and then the viewer would pick what looked like the right connection speed for them and either download or progressively download the video (the video would start playing as soon as enough data had been transferred). Download was at glacial speed and the videos generally looked terrible. And you payed for the bandwidth! Then came ‘streaming video services’ like Real or Windows Media. You would need a server (or your web host would need one) that would host the Real or Windows Media server software. Then the server would send the video to the viewer based on their connection speed. It was better but still required an annoying, technically complex and sometimes expensive install to your…

Alaska Airlines is now the 5th largest airline, and one of Seattle’s most well-recognized companies. Recently, Alaska Airlines elected to rebrand with a brand new logo and color scheme. Thrilled to be a part of their corporate video production project, we set forward to create something unique. Alaska Airlines wanted to unveil the new brand in a memorable way. The proposed solution was to create a timelapse video, showcasing the 10-day process of repainting one of their planes. With hours of time-lapse footage at our fingertips, we built out the progression of events, showing each and every stage of the painting process. The video triumphantly culminates in the grand reveal of Alaska’s new brand at their PR event—complete with a team of flight attendants doing a dance to celebrate. The corporate video production process was approached strategically as well as creatively, careful to show just how much care and detail…

Medical and healthcare marketing professionals understand all too well the struggle to convey health-related topics. Concepts, products, and services are often difficult to visualize for both consumer and business-to-business. 3D animation and visualization techniques have revolutionized the healthcare marketing industry, allowing healthcare professionals to communicate extremely complex ideas or processes. Medical procedures, interior anatomy, and multi-step processes can be difficult to convey verbally or pictorially. Animated video is a perfect alternative; it does not require invasive use of a camera and can better differentiate and simplify internal structures and processes. At Sparkworks, we’ve worked with many in the healthcare industry to create animated or 3D visualization projects. One example of our work is with Verathon, a world leader in the design and manufacturing of medical equipment. Because many of Verathon’s products work inside of the body, they are nearly impossible to shoot. Therefore, our resident 3D animation expert, Travis Metcalf,…

Every time a team hits the drawing board to come up with a corporate video, the aim is to make it amazing. It’s easy to invest too much time, however, on all the wrong aspects of a product demo video, or even the right aspects but in the wrong way. In our years of experience creating corporate videos, we’ve learned what elements are key in every product demo video project. A Killer Script The most important part of a good product demo video is, without the slightest doubt, your script. Video quality? Definitely important. Good voiceovers and great music? Certainly a bonus. Killer script? Vital. If the script isn’t good, your video won’t convert well and you’ll find that all of the time, energy, and money you invested produces minimal results. So, settle down, grab your pro-marketing team (or just your own laptop) and start writing. One thing we would…

It’s becoming harder and harder to reach a broad base of consumers with any form of media, even if you’ve already created a really compelling brand video. With the quantity of content uploaded each day to the internet, finding new creative outlets to reach your niche consumers has become a necessity. As a business using corporate video and commercial video as part for your marketing strategies, how can you creatively stand out to consumers? How do you ensure your brand voice isn’t lost in the deluge of businesses bawling for consumer attention? 1. Pay-per-click Landing Page Pay per click (PPC) is defined as, “...an internet advertising model used to direct traffic to websites, in which advertisers pay the publisher (typically a search engine, such as Google, or a website host) when the ad is clicked.” Many businesses turn to PPC advertising as a way to increase sales and brand awareness…

With more and more people buying tablets and smartphones, creating videos specifically for mobile devices is becoming increasingly important. These devices have audio, video, and viewing limitations that in previous years, video production companies didn’t have to worry about. The average American adult will spend nearly six hours a day using digital media. Over 51 percent of the total time is spent using mobile devices, and according to a study by eMarketer, an average of 1 hour and 16 minutes of this time will be spent watching online video. As a business, this is an enormous opportunity for you to reach consumers with your brand and marketing videos. But with over half of these individuals using mobile devices, you must consider whether or not your videos are mobile-friendly. Here are the top issues you must worry about when creating a mobile-friendly corporate video for your business: Ensure Your Video Players…